simple, nourishing recipes for those that have a full plate... and need one

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Apple Crisp - Our Back to School Tradition

Making apple crisp for my son’s teachers on the first day of school has become a tradition in our house. We don’t have many traditions, outside of a Christmas tree, but this is one that has stuck. I grew up eating apple crisp, peach crisp, berry crisp. Whatever was in season my mom made into a delicious crisp. Making apple crisp is very easy for a young child to help with, and the recipients are tickled to get the homemade treat. Since our older child would gladly bake for his entire school if he had enough apples, we encourage him to focus in on his teachers from the previous year, and the ones he’s looking forward to having this year to keep the project special...but still within reason for mom, the sous chef.

Apple Crisp

Apples (any variety, we like to use a mix of tart, sweet, and baking)OatsBrown SugarButterWhole Wheat FlourCinnamonGinger (optional)Nutmeg (optional)Vanilla (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Wash and core your apples, then quarter them, leaving the skin on. Using a Cuisinart (the slicing attachment it comes with), slice the apples. This part is great for kids. Simply have them feed chunks of apple into the tube up top. Safe, loud, and they can see their progress as the bowl fills up.

Fill baking dish(es) ¾ of the way up with sliced apples, pressing down gently to make sure you’ve put enough in since they’ll cook down a bit.

I find it is easiest to make the topping in a big bowl with a hand-mixer. Combine oats, brown sugar, butter, a handful of flour and ample amounts of the dried spices and vanilla and blend on medium-low until combined and crumbly. Let your children dump in the dry spices and vanilla…just let them shake shake shake, as it’s hard to have too much cinnamon or vanilla. I am not giving you exact amounts b/c you can look to see how it’s coming together, and taste the topping and add more of one thing or another until it’s the way you like it. We do not make ours very sweet (brown sugar) but do go heavy on the spices and vanilla, so it counts as a legitimate breakfast food around here too.

When making the topping, basically you just want the consistency of the topping to be a little drier than an oatmeal cookie batter…enough butter and flour that it’s going to help bind the oats together when you bake it + enough of the brown sugar spices and vanilla to flavor and sweeten it to your liking. As readers of this blog know, I like to wing it when I am cooking, relying on my sense of taste, and texture, to end up with a delicious result. But if you are more comfortable with an exact recipe, here’s one from Food Network and one from Quaker Oats. Bake the apple crisp, uncovered, for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until the apples pierce easily when you poke down into the center of the dish.

If giving it as a gift, let your recipient know that Apple Crisp is best served warm with a rich vanilla ice cream. You can reheat the crisp in the microwave (for ok results) or in a 350 degree oven (for much better results, as the topping will crisp up again). Should the topping start to get too dark, simply cover with a bit of foil when warming it up.

About

Welcome to The Full Plate blog, where you'll find simple, healthful recipes...so parents like you can nourish your families, even on the busiest of days. I am a recipe developer, culinary instructor and former personal chef. But first and foremost, I'm a mom. I love spending time in my kitchen… but I certainly don't want to spend all day in it! Here, I share my recipes for both make-ahead and simple-to-make recipes so you, too, can collect "bonus hours" to spend with your family, friends… or so you can just enjoy a glass of wine at the end of the day. Poke around the blog, try a recipe that sounds good, or grab my ebook. Scroll down to search for a particular recipe, or to see some of the awards my blog has won. If would like to discuss working together, I may be reached at: mealsinasnap@gmail.com. I hope that you enjoy my recipes, and that you, too, start collecting those "bonus hours".

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About Founder/Editor Eila DeBard Johnson

I am a happy, healthy mom of two young children who has a knack for being able to whip up family-friendly, healthy meals with whatever I find in our fridge, freezer and pantry. In the past 12 years of motherhood, I have come to appreciate that there is so much intertwined in "being healthy" and feeling good as a mother, wife and friend. As a super busy mom who jugglednutrition coursework, raising young children, keeping the house in order, volunteering in my community, writing this blog and the elusive goal of “me” time, I understand the need for recipes to be simple.

While I’d love to claim that I cook everything from scratch, with only local ingredients, I don’t. One of my children is a vegetarian, the other is a self-proclaimed "meatatarian", so mealtimes are a constant juggling act around here. But, I do a swell job of getting healthful meals made quickly…that everyone around here enjoys. And if you open my freezer, chances are you'll find a bevy of homemade meals at the ready.

My love of cooking comes from an entire childhood spent in Southern California, where phenomenal produce was available (and offered up) year round... memories of homemade meals and family dinners throughout my upbringing... my incredible exchange student experience living on a farm in Austria in high school... and years of fine-tuning my cooking skills through numerous classes at The Institute for Culinary Education (then called Peter Kump's), private cooking lessons at night after my day job at an investment bank, and a Professional Certificate in Techniques of Healthy Cooking from The Culinary Institute of America. I have a BA from Colgate University, an MBA from Northwestern and am certified as a Health Coach by the Institute of Integrative Nutrition, where I focused on holistic well-being.

Before writing this blog, I ran a (wildly popular) Fairfield County, CT-based personal chef service; consulted on private label food products; and worked in new product development and brand management for a really big food company.